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Abstract:

A cylinder is usable for shaping or processing flat material and includes
a cylindrical body, which can be rotated about a cylinder axis, and at
least one group of a plurality of tools which are distributed uniformly
about the periphery of the cylindrical body. These tools are able to
perform a working movement in relation to the cylindrical body and are
coupled to first and second control levers, which drive the working
movements of the tools. A fixed cam plate is followed by the first
control lever of each tool. A rotating cover disk is followed by the
second control lever of each tool. The rotation of the cover disk is
coupled to the rotation of the cylindrical body. The cover disk comprises
a plurality of congruent sectors each having at least one section with a
first radius which, when it is traced by the second control lever of each
tool, allows that tool to accomplish its working movement corresponding
to the cam plate traced by the first control lever. The cover disk
sectors each also have at least one section with a second radius which
blocks the working movement corresponding to the contour of the cam plate
traced by the first control lever.

Claims:

1-23. (canceled)

24. A cylinder usable to process sheet material comprising:a cylinder body
having a cylinder body circumference and a cylinder axis and being
rotatable about said cylinder axis;a number "n" of groups of tools
distributed evenly over said cylinder body circumference and being
adapted to perform an operating movement with respect to said cylinder
body;a control arrangement for each of said groups of tools and usable to
drive said operating movement of said group of tools;a stationary cam
disk traced by each said control arrangement;a rotatable cover disk, said
rotatable cover disk being coupled to the rotation of said cylinder body
and being traced by each said control arrangement;a number "m" of
congruent sectors on said cover disk and each having at least one section
of a first radius, each said first radius section, when it is traced by
said control assembly, allowing said operating movement of said one of
said groups of tools associated with said control arrangement, each said
sector also having at least one section of a second radius which, when it
is traced by said control assembly, blocks said operating movement of
said one of said groups of tools associated with said control
arrangement, said number "m" of said sectors being at least equal to
"n"/(2+1), a ratio of a number of rotations of said cylinder and of said
cover disk being 1:1.+-.1/"p"+"m" wherein "p" is a whole number≧2.

25. The cylinder of claim 24 wherein said number "m" of said congruent
sectors on said cover disk is at least 4.

26. The cylinder of claim 24 further including a switch gear coupling said
rotatable cover disk and said cylinder body and having a plurality of
switching stages corresponding to values of said whole number "p".

27. The cylinder of claim 24 further including a harmonic drive coupling
said rotatable cover disk and said cylinder body.

28. The cylinder of claim 24 when said second radius is greater than said
first radius.

29. The cylinder of claim 24 wherein said cam disk has a first
circumferential section in the shape of a segment of a circle and which
is coaxial with said cylinder body axis, and further has a second
circumferential section which differs from the shape of a circle, an
angular extension of said second section being not greater than 2
π"p".

30. The cylinder of claim 24 wherein said control arrangement for each
said group of tools includes a control lever with a cam disk tracing
roller and with a cover disk tracing roller.

31. The cylinder of claim 24 wherein said control arrangement for each
said group of tools includes first and second control levers pivotable
about a common shaft, said first control lever having said cam disk and
said second lever tracing said cover disk.

32. The cylinder of claim 24 wherein said number "n" of groups of tools is
selected from grippers, spur needle strips, folding blades and folding
jaws.

33. The cylinder of claim 24 wherein there are five of said groups of
tools.

34. The cylinder of claim 33 wherein said tools are folding blades.

35. The cylinder of claim 33 wherein said tools are one of spur needle
systems and grippers.

36. The cylinder of claim 24 wherein there are seven of said groups of
tools.

37. The cylinder of claim 36 wherein said tools are folding blades.

38. The cylinder of claim 36 wherein said tools are one of spur needle
systems and grippers.

39. The cylinder of claim 24 wherein there are three of said groups of
tools.

40. The cylinder of claim 39 wherein said tools are folding blades.

35. The cylinder of claim 39 wherein said tools are one of spur needle
systems and grippers.

42. The cylinder of claim 24 wherein said number of groups of tools are
cooperating sets of folding blades and spur needle systems spaced at a
distance from each other on said cylinder body circumference.

43. The cylinder of claim 42 wherein said distance is fixed.

44. The cylinder of claim 42 wherein said distance is adjustable.

45. The cylinder of claim 24 wherein said cylinder is operable in a single
collating operation and wherein said groups of tools include folding
blade groups, each of said folding blade groups being extended with
respect to said cylinder body circumference during a first rotation of
said system and being not extended during a second rotation of said
cylinder.

46. The cylinder of claim 24 wherein said cylinder is operable in a dual
collating operation and wherein said groups of tools include folding
blade groups, each of said folding blade groups being extended with
respect to said cylinder body circumference during a first rotation of
said system and being not extended during two subsequent successive
rotations of said cylinder.

47. The cylinder of claim 24 wherein said cylinder is operable in a triple
collating operation and wherein said groups of tools include folding
blade groups, each of said folding blade groups being extended with
respect to said cylinder body circumference during a first rotation of
said system and being not extended during three subsequent successive
rotations of said cylinder.

Description:

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0001]This U.S. patent application is the U.S. national phase, under 35
USC 371, of PCT/EP2005/051636, filed Apr. 13, 2005; published as WO
2005/102891 A1 on Nov. 3, 2005, and claiming priority to DE 10 2004 020
303.2, filed Apr. 26, 2004, the disclosures of which are expressly
incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0002]The present invention is directed to cylinders for processing flat
material. A cylinder body is rotatable around a cylinder axis and has at
least one group of tools evenly distributed over the circumference of the
cylinder body. These tools are able to perform an operating movement with
respect to the cylinder body.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0003]Cylinders of this general type find multiple uses, particularly in
the folding apparatus of a printing press, where the movable tools which
are distributed over the cylinder circumference surface can be, for
example, spur needle strips, grippers, folding blades, folding jaws or
the like. These cylinders are accordingly referred to as spur needle
cylinders, gripper cylinders, folding cylinders or folding jaw cylinders.

[0004]DE 101 56 194 A1 proposes to reduce the frictional wear of a cover
disk tracing or follower roller by providing, in place of one control arm
with two such tracing, follower or scanner rollers, two control arms, one
of which supports the cam disk scanner roller, and the other of which
support the cover disk scanner roller. An abrupt acceleration of the
cover disk scanner roller is prevented in this prior art device in that
it is maintained in steady contact with the cover roller.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0005]The object of the present invention is directed to providing
cylinders for processing flat material, wherein wear between the cover
disk of the cylinder and the associated control arrangement for the
cylinder is reduced.

[0006]In accordance with the present invention, this object is attained by
the provision of a cylinder with a cylinder body that is rotatable about
a cylinder axis and which has at least one group of tools which are
evenly distributed over the circumference of the cylinder body. These
tools are able to accomplish a working movement, with respect to the
cylinder body. Control levers are provided to effect this working
movement and have cam followers that engage the surface of either a
stationary cam disk or a rotatable cover disk. The cover disk is
rotatable with the cylinder and has a plurality of congruent sectors.
Each such sector has sections of different radii. When the followers
engage these sections, they either allow movement of the control lever or
prevent such movement.

[0007]The advantages which can be obtained by the present invention lie,
in particular, in that wear in the contact area between the cover disk
and the control arrangement scanning it is kept low. This is accomplished
without requiring a constant contact between the control arrangement and
the cover disk.

[0008]Instead of attempting to avoid wear on the control arrangement, by
keeping its scanning roller, which scans the cover roller, continuously
in rotation, in accordance with the teachings of the prior art DE 101 56
194 A1, in the construction, in accordance with the present invention, a
loss of contact between the control arrangement and the cover roller is
permitted and is accepted. Wear is reduced by reducing the relative speed
between the rotating cylinder body and the cover disk. By increasing the
number of congruent sectors of the cover disk, over that which is typical
in prior art structures, the difference in rotating speed between the
cylinder body and the cover disk, which is required for the control of
the tool movement with the desired periodicity, is clearly reduced. In a
cylinder with, for example five tools, and customarily with at most three
sectors, a ratio between the control speed of the cylinder and that of
the cover disk of 6:5 was customarily required in connection with dual
collating operations. A ratio of 12:11 results in response to doubling
the number of sectors thereby, in effect, halving of the rotating speed
difference. The acceleration which is encountered by a scanning roller of
the control arrangement which is scanning the cover disk is therefore
halved. Since wear increases overproportionally, with respect to the
occurring acceleration, the service life of the scanning or cam following
roller is even more than doubled.

[0009]The roller for scanning or following or tracing the cover disk can
be simply mounted on a common control lever, together with a roller for
scanning or following or tracing the cam disk. However, in such a
configuration, the roller of the cam disk always loses contact with the
cam disk at the time the cover disk blocks the operating movement of the
control lever. The cam disk roller is thus slowed down and must then be
accelerated again. To avoid this, it is also possible to provide two
control levers, one for each roller, the provision of which two control
levers permit the roller of the cam disk to remain in contact with the
cam disk even when the cover disk blocks the operating movement of the
control lever.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0010]A preferred embodiment of the present invention is represented in
the drawings and will be described in greater detail in what follows.

[0011]Shown are in:

[0012]FIG. 1, a perspective view of a portion of a spur needle cylinder in
accordance with the present invention, in

[0013]FIG. 2, an exploded perspective detailed view of the control
arrangement of the present invention, with two control levers of a spur
needle strip of the spur needle cylinder of FIG. 1, in

[0014]FIG. 3, a detailed perspective view of a simplified control
arrangement having one control lever and two rollers mounted thereon, in

[0015]FIG. 4, a side elevation view schematically depicting relative
positions of the cam and cover disks in connection with dual collation
operations of a cylinder, in

[0016]FIG. 5, a side elevation view schematically depicting relative
positions of the cam and cover disks in connection with triple collation
operations of a cylinder, in

[0017]FIG. 6, a side elevation view schematically depicted relative
positions of the cam and cover disks with quadruple collation operations,
and in

[0018]FIG. 7, a depiction of a gear for coupling the rotations of the
cylinder body and the cover disk.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0019]FIG. 1 shows an end section of a cylinder body 01 with three spur
needle strips, only two of which are visible in FIG. 1. For the sake of
simplicity, the cylinder body 01 has been represented here in a narrow,
geometric sense. However, it is to be understood that it is possible, in
actuality, to depart from the geometric closed cylinder shape of the
cylinder, provided that signatures positioned on the shell face of the
cylinder 01 are conveyed on a path which is shaped as a circle or as a
sector of a circle. It is possible, in particular, for the shell surface
of the cylinder body 01 to be constructed of a plurality of segments,
which segments can be shifted with respect to each other. The tools 02,
such as, for example, the depicted spur needles 02 of the spur needle
strips, can be extended out of rows of holes which are respectively
arranged spaced at a circumferential distance of 120° on the shell
surface of the cylinder body 01. The spur needles 02 are extended
radially out from the cylinder shell surface, through the depicted holes
in order to spear signatures conveyed on the cylinder shell surface and
to further transport them, on the cylinder body 01, to a transfer gap,
which is not specifically represented. During the transfer or the handing
over of the signatures at the transfer gap, the spur needles 02 must be
retracted into the interior of the cylinder 01. To accomplish this
purpose, the spur needles 02 in each row or group are respectively
fixedly connected with a cooperating shaft 03 by the use of suitable
arms, which are hidden by the shell of the cylinder body 01 in FIG. 1.
Each of these arms is pivotably seated in two oppositely located front or
end plates 04 of the cylinder body 01. Journals 06 of the cylinder body
01, which are connected with the front or end plates 04 of the cylinder
body 01, are rotatably seated in a lateral frame, which is not
specifically represented. A cam disk 07 and a cover disk 08 are provided
and are arranged coaxially with respect to the journal 06, as represented
in FIG. 1. The cam disk 07 substantially has the shape of a circular disk
which is arranged concentrically with respect to the axis of rotation of
the cylinder body 01. A circumferential section 11, such as, for example,
an indentation 11, has been formed on a circumferential face 09 of the
cam disk 07. The cover disk 08 can be seen in FIG. 1 as being constructed
having four congruent 900 sectors, each of which sectors has a section 12
in the form of an arc of a circle with a large radius, a section 13 with
a lesser radius, as well as inclined faces 14, which inclined faces 14
constitute gradual transitions between the sections 12, 13.

[0020]Each one of the three shafts 03 of the cylinder body 01 supports two
control levers 16, 17. Each of these two control levers 16, 17
respectively forms a control arrangement for use in controlling the
movement of one of the spur needle strips. For the sake of clarity, the
control levers 16, 17 are represented, in FIG. 1, on only one of the
three shafts 03. The first, interior, cam disk control lever 16 has a
first or a cam disk follower roller 18, which rolls off on the
circumferential surface of the cam disk 07. In an analogous manner, the
second control lever 17 has a second or a cover disk follower roller 19,
which rolls off on the circumferential surface of the cover disk 08. The
second control lever 17 is fixedly connected with the shaft 03, while the
first control lever 16 can be rotated around the shaft 03.

[0021]The control levers 16, 17 each have a protrusion 21 or 22,
respectively on their assigned lateral flank each of which lateral flanks
is facing the associated lateral flank of other control lever 16, 17. A
pressure spring 23, which exerts a spring force that drives the two
protrusions 21, 22 apart, as may be seen in FIG. 2, lies between the two
protrusions 21, 22. The torque of a second spring, which is not
specifically represented, and which is housed, for example, in the
cylinder body 01, acts, via the shaft 03, on the second control lever 17
and drives the roller 19 of the second control lever 17 against the
circumferential surface of the cover disk 08. In spite of this, in the
position represented in FIG. 1, the roller 19 does not touch the cover
disk 08. The mutual engagement of the protrusions 21, 22 with each other,
and the contact of roller 18 of the first control lever 16, which
simultaneously rolls off on the circumferential face 09, prevent this. In
the course of the entire revolution of the cylinder body 01, the roller
18 is in continuous contact with the cam disk 07 and because of this
continuous contact, is being uniformly rotatorily driven. However, when
the roller 18 enters the indentation 11 on the face 09 0f the cam disk
07, this results in a movement of the spur needles 02 only if, at the
same time, the p cover disk roller 19 is located opposite a section 13 of
the cover disk 08 which is formed with a small radius. If, as represented
in FIG. 1, this is not the case, the roller 19 loses contact with the
cover disk 08 and is slowed in its rotation until it again comes into
contact with a large radius section 12 of the cover disk 08.

[0022]In a perspective view, which is analogous to FIG. 2, FIG. 3 shows a
simplified control arrangement. A single control lever 17', which is
fastened on the shaft 03, supports two rollers 18', 19' for rolling off
on the cam disk 07 or the cover disk 08, respectively. The control lever
17' pivots radially inward only in the situation where both rollers 18',
19' simultaneously pass an indentation 11 on the cam disk 11 and a
section 13 of a small radius on the cover disk 08.

[0023]In place of three folding blades 02, or spur needle strips with spur
needles, or grippers or folding jaws, the cylinder 01 can also have five
or seven sections, and thus can have five or seven rows or groups of
tools 02, in particular rows or groups of folding blades 02, or spur
needle strips with spur needles, grippers or folding jaws.

[0024]FIG. 4 shows two schematic side elevation views of the cam disk,
which is represented in dashed lines, and of the cover disk 08, both of
which are formed by four identical sectors 26, and of the rollers 18, 19,
while the rollers pass the indentation 11 of the cam disk 07. In part "a"
of FIG. 4 a section 12 of large radius of the cover disk 08 supports the
cover disk roller 19. The retraction of the spur needles 02 into the
cylinder body 01 and a release of the signature held on the spur needles
02 is thereby prevented, even though the cam disk roller 18 dips into the
indentation. A ratio of the number of revolutions of the cylinder body 01
and of the cover disk 08 is 8:7. When the cylinder body 01 has made a
complete revolution and the roller 18 again reaches the indentation 11,
the cover disk 08 has only turned by 7/8 of a revolution which, as shown
in part "b" of FIG. 4, results in a rotary displacement of 45° of
the cover disk 08 with respect to the cam disk 07 in comparison to the
case shown in part "a" of FIG. 4. Thus, in part "b" of FIG. 4, the
indentation 11 and a section 13 of a small radius of the cover disk 08
coincide. The cover disk roller 19 thus moves radially inwardly and the
spur needles 02 are retracted.

[0025]In connection with a control arrangement such as the one shown in
FIG. 3, in the case of part "a" in FIG. 4, the contact between the roller
19' and section 12 would prevent the roller 18' from dipping into the
depression and the retraction of the spur needles 02 would also be
blocked. In the case of part "b" of FIG. 4, both rollers 18', 19' dip in
their respective depressions and the spur needles 02 would be retracted.
Thus, the movement of the spur needles 02 is the same in connection with
the embodiment shown in FIG. 3 as it is with the two-armed control
arrangement represented in FIG. 2.

[0026]In the case of the depiction of FIG. 5, the ratio of the numbers of
revolutions of the cylinder body 01 and the cover disk 08 is 12:11. Thus,
as shown in part "c" of FIG. 5, the indentation 11 in the cam disk 07 and
the indentation 13 in the cover disk 08 only meet at every third
revolution of the cylinder body 01. Therefore, three signatures are
collated prior to every retraction of the spur needles 02. The difference
in the rotating speeds of the cylinder body 01 and the cover disk 08 is
even less here than was the case of FIG. 4, and the wear on the roller 18
is correspondingly less.

[0027]As depicted in FIG. 6, it is possible to increase the number "p" of
revolutions of the cylinder 01, before release of the collated products,
even more. However, with the angular extension of the indentation 11,
which is represented here by way of example, it is questionable whether,
in the cases "a" and "c" of FIG. 6, the sections 12 over the entire
extent of the indentation 11 could prevent the penetration of the roller
18. The smaller the angular extension of the indentation 11, the greater
the number of possible collation processes obviously becomes. In order to
make "p"-times collations possible, the angular extension of the
indentation 11 must not be greater than 2π/p.

[0028]FIG. 7 shows a preferred embodiment of a coupling gear between the
cylinder body 01, of which only the journal 06 is schematically
represented in FIG. 7, and the cover disk 08. The journal 06 crosses, and
is rotatably seated, in a lateral frame plate 24 and has, at its end
which is facing away from the cylinder body 01, a first hollow gear wheel
29 of a harmonic drive gear. This first hollow gear wheel 29, and a
second hollow wheel 31 mesh with a flex spline 32. An exterior ring gear
33, which is fixedly connected with the second hollow gear wheel 31,
meshes with a pinion gear 34, which is part of a shaft 36, and which
shaft 36 is offset with respect to the shaft of the cylinder body 01,
which shaft 36 crosses the lateral frame plate 24 and which shaft 36 has
a further pinion gear 37 on the inside of the shaft 36. Pinion gear 37
drives a sleeve 38 which is rotatably pushed onto the journal 06 and
which sleeve supports the cover disk 08. Assuming that the wave generator
30, which is situated in the interior of the flex spline 32, does not
rotate, and with an amount of teeth for the hollow wheel 29 being 160,
with 162 teeth for the hollow wheel 31, 81 teeth for the exterior ring
gear 33, 24 teeth for the pinion gear 34, 22 teeth for the pinion gear 37
and 80 teeth for exterior of the sleeve 38, a ratio of the number of
revolutions of 12:11 results between the cylinder body 01 and the cover
disk 08. Because of this ratio, as assumed in connection with FIGS. 1 to
5, a dual collation operation; i.e. a collation and cooperative delivery
of three products, can be realized. With a cover disk with six segments,
a single collation operation; i.e. a collation and delivery of two
products.

[0029]The relative position of the cover disk 08, in relation to the
several control levers 17 of the cylinder body 01, can be adjusted by
rotation of the wave generator 30 in order to assure that in the course
of the passage of one of the control levers 18 in front of the
indentation 11 of the cam disk 07, the roller 19 of the control lever 17
associated with the cover disk 08 does not change from a section 12 to a
section 13, or vice versa. The wave generator 30 is maintained, fixed
against relative rotation, during the collation operation. To be able to
operate the cylinder 01 in a non-collation mode, it is possible to
provide a coupling between the cylinder journal 06 and the sleeve 38
which coupling, when it is closed, lets the cover disk 08 rotate at the
speed of the cylinder body 01. When this coupling is closed, the wave
generator 30 is permitted to rotate.

[0030]By the rotatory driving of the wave generator 30 at a suitable
speed, it is also possible to realize different collation numbers,
corresponding to the respective gear ratio between the cylinder body 01
and the cover disk 08. For the same purpose it would also be possible to
replace the gear in FIG. 7 with a suitable control gear, wherein several
switching stages are replaced in accordance with different values of
p=(2, 3, . . . ∞). In general, the ratio of the numbers of
revolutions of the cylinder body 01 and of the cover disk 08 should
always amount to 1:1±1/(p×m), wherein "m" is the number of the
sectors 26 of the cover disk 08, and "p" is a low natural number≧2
or ∞. In this case, "p"=∞ corresponds to the above mentioned
case of non-collating operation with a rotating cover disk 08 rigidly
coupled to the cylinder body 01; "p"=1 corresponds to the case of
non-collating operation with a stationary cover disk 08, and all other
values of "p" correspond to a respective ("p"-1)-times collation
operation.

[0031]The number "m" of the sectors 26 is at least equal to

π 2 + 1 ,

i.e.

m ≧ π 2 + 1 ,

or m is at least 4, i.e. m=≧4.

[0032]In connection with the above preferred embodiments, only spur needle
strips 02 have been used as examples of tools 02 which are attached to
the cylinder body 01 and which are periodically driven. However, it is to
be understood that the invention can also be applied, in the same way as
described above, to other periodically moved tools 02, such as folding
blades 02, spur needle strips with spur needles, grippers, folding jaws,
and the like, which are driven at a period that is a multiple of the
period of rotation of the cylinder body 01.

[0033]For example, the cylinder body 01, as well as the cover disk 08,
rotate in a counterclockwise direction, as shown in FIG. 2. The control
arrangement 16, 17, 17' is embodied to be leading or extending in the
direction of rotation, for example.

[0034]While preferred embodiments of a cylinder for processing flat
material, in accordance with the present invention, have been set forth
fully and completely hereinabove, it will be apparent to one of skill in
the art that various changes in, for example, the specific printing press
producing the material to be processed, the drive for the cylinder, and
the like could be made without departing from the true spirit and scope
of the present invention which is accordingly to be limited only by the
appended claims.